Class 10 English: ‘The Making of a Scientist’ is a story about Richard H. Ebright telling us how as he became a good scientist. Ebright was the only child of his parents. He studied at Pennsylvania. After the death of his father, he was everything for his mother. He used to earn top grade in the school. By the time he was in second grade, he had collected all twenty-five species of butterfly found around his hometown. His mother brought him a book named ‘The Travels of Monarch X’. That book told him how the monarch butterflies migrate to Central America. He became interested in tagging the butterflies. It was a tedious job and most of the butterflies travelled only seventy-five miles away. When he was in the seventh grade, he attended a county science fair but he could not win any prizes because others had shown real experiments. When he was in the eighth grade, he tried to find the cause of the disease that used to kill nearly all the monarchs. His trial of this experiment won him a prize. In the second year of his high school, Richard began to search an unknown hormone in the gold spots of the butterflies. In his senior year he proved that the cells of a monarch will develop into a normal butterfly wing only if they were fed the hormone from the gold spots. This project won the first place for zoology at the international fair. As a result, he could spend some time at the laboratory of the Department of Agriculture. There he could identify the chemical structure of that hormone. While studying the X-ray photographs of the hormone, he found yet another important thing about it. He discovered how the cell could read the blueprint of its DNA. Richard graduated from Harvard with the highest honours. He stood second in the class of 1510 students. He was competitive right from the beginning. He always tried to give his best and that was the secret of his success. He had an intelligent brain, high curiosity and desire to win and compete. All these things made him a grand success.
’द मेकिंग ऑफ ए साइंटिस्ट’ रिचर्ड एच. एब्राइट के बारे में एक कहानी है जो हमें बताती है कि कैसे वह एक अच्छा वैज्ञानिक बन गया। एब्राइट अपने माता-पिता की एकमात्र संतान थी। उन्होंने पेंसिल्वेनिया से पढ़ाई की। अपने पिता की मृत्यु के बाद, वह अपनी मां के लिए सब कुछ था। वह स्कूल में टॉप ग्रेड हासिल करता था। जब तक वह दूसरी कक्षा में था, तब तक उसने अपने गृहनगर के चारों ओर पाए जाने वाले तितली की सभी पच्चीस प्रजातियों को एकत्र कर लिया था। उनकी मां ने उन्हें ‘द ट्रेवल्स ऑफ मोनार्क एक्स’ नाम की एक किताब दी। उस पुस्तक ने उसे बताया कि कैसे सम्राट तितलियों मध्य अमेरिका में प्रवास करते हैं। तितलियों को टैग करने में उसकी दिलचस्पी हो गई। यह एक थकाऊ काम था और अधिकांश तितलियों ने केवल पचहत्तर मील की दूरी पर यात्रा की। जब वह सातवीं कक्षा में था, तो उसने एक काउंटी विज्ञान मेले में भाग लिया लेकिन वह कोई पुरस्कार नहीं जीत सका क्योंकि दूसरों ने वास्तविक प्रयोग दिखाए थे। जब वह आठवीं कक्षा में था, तो उसने बीमारी का कारण खोजने की कोशिश की जो लगभग सभी राजाओं को मारने के लिए इस्तेमाल किया जाता था। इस प्रयोग के उनके परीक्षण ने उन्हें एक पुरस्कार जीता। अपने हाई स्कूल के दूसरे वर्ष में, रिचर्ड ने तितलियों के सोने के धब्बों में एक अज्ञात हार्मोन की खोज करना शुरू कर दिया। अपने वरिष्ठ वर्ष में उन्होंने साबित कर दिया कि एक सम्राट की कोशिकाएं एक सामान्य तितली विंग में विकसित होंगी, अगर उन्हें सोने के धब्बों से हार्मोन खिलाया गया था। इस परियोजना ने अंतर्राष्ट्रीय मेले में प्राणी विज्ञान के लिए पहला स्थान जीता। नतीजतन, वह कृषि विभाग की प्रयोगशाला में कुछ समय बिता सकता था। वहां वह उस हार्मोन की रासायनिक संरचना की पहचान कर सकता था। हार्मोन की एक्स-रे तस्वीरों का अध्ययन करते समय, उन्होंने इसके बारे में एक और महत्वपूर्ण बात पाई। उन्होंने पाया कि सेल अपने डीएनए का खाका कैसे पढ़ सकता है। रिचर्ड ने हार्वर्ड से सर्वोच्च सम्मान के साथ स्नातक की उपाधि प्राप्त की। वह 1510 छात्रों की कक्षा में दूसरे स्थान पर रहे। वह शुरू से ही प्रतिस्पर्धी था। उन्होंने हमेशा अपना सर्वश्रेष्ठ देने की कोशिश की और यही उनकी सफलता का रहस्य था। उनके पास एक बुद्धिमान मस्तिष्क, उच्च जिज्ञासा और जीतने और प्रतिस्पर्धा करने की इच्छा थी। इन सभी चीजों ने उन्हें एक बड़ी सफलता दिलाई।
Summary
Richard‘s Young Age Achievement
Richard H. Ebright was only twenty-two years old when he and his college roommate published an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and mesmerised the scientific world with a new theory on how cells work. It was a huge achievement for them both because this important scientific journal had published the work of college students for the first time.
Richard A- Collector from Childhood
Richard was the only child of his parents. He grew up at reading in Pennsylvania USA. He had no one to play with. So, he started collecting things like rocks, fossils and coins. Gazing at stars and collecting butterflies where his hobbies.
Richard’s Mother- His Companion
Richard’s mother was constantly with him. She encouraged him by taking him on trips and bought him telescopes and other equipment. She found work to challenge him and helped him to learn a lot.
Richard Reads ‘The Travel of Monarch X’
The reading of a children’s book titled ‘The Travels of Monarch X’ inspired him. He became interested in the world of science. The book asked the readers to study butterfly migrations. Richard came in contact with the scientist doctor Urquhart through this book, who influenced him greatly.
Richard Raises Monarch Butterflies
Richard decided to raise butterflies at home to study their migration patterns. He could catch a female monarch and take her eggs. He would watch all the stages of development of the butterfly. Then he would take their wings and free them. He did it for many years and raised thousands of butterflies in the basement of his home.
Richard Enters County Science Fair
Richard displayed his slides of frogs at the country science fair, but he did not win any award. He realised that he needed to carry out real experiments to win an award. He took suggestions from Dr Urquhart. As a result of his many experiments, he won many prizes at the country and international science fairs in the following years.
Richard’s Eighth Grade Project
Richard tried to find the cause of viral fever that killed thousands of monarch butterflies. He thought that a beetle may carry the virus that causes viral fever. Although this was not the case, he still won a prize for his project.
Richard’s Win at County Science Fair
Richard experimented on viceroy butterflies. He tried to prove that viceroys copy monarchs. Viceroys do it to protect themselves from birds as birds don’t eat monarchs. The project won the first prize in the Zoology division and overall third prize in the country science fair.
Richard’s Discovery of a Hormone
Richard was curious to know that the reason behind 12 gold spots on a monarch pupa. He and his friends built a device to prove that the spots were producing a hormone necessary for its full development. The project got him first prize in the country fair. He also entered the International Science and Engineering Fair. He got first prize for zoology in this fair.
Richard Continues his Research on Monarch Pupa
Richard grew cells from the wings of a monarch butterfly. He further proved that cells grow in scales of wings only when they are injected with the hormone from the gold spots. He carried on his work at the Army laboratory and laboratory of the US Department of Agriculture. After his freshman year at Harvard, he returned to the laboratory of the Department of Agriculture to identify the chemical structure of hormone. This gave him a new idea about cell life.
Richard’s Study of Cell and DNA
Richard’s research on the hormone gave him an idea. He believed that his study could tell how cells read their DNA. He, along with his college roommate, James R Wong, worked on the idea. Then they wrote a paper explaining their theory.
Richard’s Glory at Harvard
Richard graduated with second position in a class of 1510 students. He became a graduate student researcher. He started experimenting to prove his new theory. His theory may create new ways to prevent some types of cancer and other diseases.
Richard- An All Rounder and a True Scientist
Richard H. Ebright had a first-rate mind, curiosity and a will to win for the right reasons. These qualities made him a true scientist. However, he was not just a scientist. He was an all-rounder. He was a good debater and public speaker, a good canoeist, and all round out doors-person. He was also an expert photographer, a straight-A student and a favourite student of his social studies teacher Mr. Richard A. Weiherer. According to Richard Ebright, his teacher Mr. Weiherer was the best. He opened young Richard’s mind to new ideas.
